beatify
/bɪˈatɪfʌɪ
/verb (beatifies, beatifying, beatified) [with object]
(In the Roman Catholic Church) announce the beatification of: he beatified Juan Diego, an Indian believed to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1531...
- There is now a shelf of books assessing Pius's career, the most contentious of which, John Cornwell's 1999 study Hitler's Pope, may well have set back the Vatican's schedule for beatifying the pontiff.
- One such woman was Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who will be beatified today in Rome.
- Instead, the Vatican has only recently beatified a number of senior Church officials who were killed during the Spanish Civil War.
Synonyms
canonize, bless, sanctify, hallow, consecrate, make holy, make sacred
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the sense 'make blessed or supremely happy'): from Old French beatifier or ecclesiastical Latin beatificare, from Latin beatus 'blessed'.